We are going to work in small groups to each create an infographic about suicide that will be on display in the school.
It was hard for me to find easy to look at info on suicide...that means you are creating something new, something that cannot be done by doing a google image search. You are going to create something readable by teenagers.
What is an infographic you might wonder? Well, they can be a series of related images with information (like a meme but the goal is to inform not to be funny...) or one larger graphic with information.
Example of first:
Example of the second:
even better:
Your job, in your groups, will be to figure out what you are going to focus on: prevalence rates, warning signs, prevention, how to help a friend, whatever you think is most important. A place to start for good info and more. and more nytimes
Then you are going to boil all the info down into either one large infographic or a series of smaller ones, here are some tips from this guy on how to create an infographic.
1. Be accurate. It seems obvious, but you will find all infographics are not accurate. For example, make sure a pie charts add up to 100%.
2. Tell one story really well. An infographic that tries to do too much ends up not telling a story at all.
3. The 10 second rule. Create infographics that tell a story quickly.
4. Big fonts are not data visualizations. Krum states, "displaying the number in a large font doesn't make it any easier for the audience to understand." Make it clear what you mean. Ask others what they think the message is.
5. Minimize text. Along the lines of #4 above. This is another tip that seems obvious, yet we see text-heavy infographics all over the web.
6. Eliminate chart legends. If the viewer needs a legend, your infographic's story might not be as clear as it should be.
7. Pick a good topic. Some topics are not as suitable for infographic display as others.
Then you are going to pick a way to create your infographic.
Here are five free tools that your students can use to create infographics.
Infogr.am is an online tool for creating interactive charts, graphs, and interactive infographic posters. There are four basic chart types that you can create on Infogr.am; bar, pie, line, and matrix. Each chart type can be edited to use any spreadsheet information that you want to upload to your Infogr.am account. The information in that spreadsheet will be displayed in your customized chart. When you place your cursor over your completed chart the spreadsheet information will appear in small pop-up window. Infogr.am infographics can include videos and maps along with pictures and text. Your Infogr.am projects can be embedded into your blog, website, or wiki.
Easel.ly provides a canvas on which you can build your own infographic by dragging and dropping pre-made design elements. You can use a blank canvas or build upon one of Easel.ly's themes. If Easel.ly doesn't have enough pre-made elements for you, you can upload your own graphics to include in your infographic. Your completed infographic can be exported and saved as PNG, JPG, PDG, and SVG files.
Piktochart provides seven free infographic templates. Each template can be customized by changing the colors, fonts, icons, and charts on each template. If you need more space on the template, you can add more fields at the bottom of the templates. If you need less space, you can remove fields from the templates.
EWC Presenter is a new tool from Easy Web Content (a website creation and hosting service). EWC Presenter makes it easy to create slideshows, banner graphics, and interactive infographics. The slideshow creator and banner graphic creator don't stand-out from other tools like them. The EWC Presenter's infographic animation option is worth noting. EWC Presenter's infographic tool allows you to animate elements within your infographic. And as was featured in a post early this month, EWC Presenter infographics support audio files.
Canva is a service that makes it easy to create beautiful slides, flyers, posters, infographics, and photo collages. Creating these graphics on Canva is a drag-and-drop process. Start by selecting a template then dragging and dropping into place background designs, pictures, clip art, and text boxes. Canva offers a huge library of clip art and photographs to use in your designs. You can also upload your own images to use in your graphics. Your completed Canva projects can be downloaded as PDF and PNG files. You can also simply link to your online graphic.
You can also use a large piece of chart paper and your own drawing skills.
The choice is yours.
You will be graded on the following requirements. Accurate information, visually interesting, flow, useful information (audience appropriateness), well edited, we will determine percentages in class.
It was hard for me to find easy to look at info on suicide...that means you are creating something new, something that cannot be done by doing a google image search. You are going to create something readable by teenagers.
What is an infographic you might wonder? Well, they can be a series of related images with information (like a meme but the goal is to inform not to be funny...) or one larger graphic with information.
Example of first:
Example of the second:
even better:
Your job, in your groups, will be to figure out what you are going to focus on: prevalence rates, warning signs, prevention, how to help a friend, whatever you think is most important. A place to start for good info and more. and more nytimes
Then you are going to boil all the info down into either one large infographic or a series of smaller ones, here are some tips from this guy on how to create an infographic.
1. Be accurate. It seems obvious, but you will find all infographics are not accurate. For example, make sure a pie charts add up to 100%.
2. Tell one story really well. An infographic that tries to do too much ends up not telling a story at all.
3. The 10 second rule. Create infographics that tell a story quickly.
4. Big fonts are not data visualizations. Krum states, "displaying the number in a large font doesn't make it any easier for the audience to understand." Make it clear what you mean. Ask others what they think the message is.
5. Minimize text. Along the lines of #4 above. This is another tip that seems obvious, yet we see text-heavy infographics all over the web.
6. Eliminate chart legends. If the viewer needs a legend, your infographic's story might not be as clear as it should be.
7. Pick a good topic. Some topics are not as suitable for infographic display as others.
Then you are going to pick a way to create your infographic.
Here are five free tools that your students can use to create infographics.
Infogr.am is an online tool for creating interactive charts, graphs, and interactive infographic posters. There are four basic chart types that you can create on Infogr.am; bar, pie, line, and matrix. Each chart type can be edited to use any spreadsheet information that you want to upload to your Infogr.am account. The information in that spreadsheet will be displayed in your customized chart. When you place your cursor over your completed chart the spreadsheet information will appear in small pop-up window. Infogr.am infographics can include videos and maps along with pictures and text. Your Infogr.am projects can be embedded into your blog, website, or wiki.
Easel.ly provides a canvas on which you can build your own infographic by dragging and dropping pre-made design elements. You can use a blank canvas or build upon one of Easel.ly's themes. If Easel.ly doesn't have enough pre-made elements for you, you can upload your own graphics to include in your infographic. Your completed infographic can be exported and saved as PNG, JPG, PDG, and SVG files.
Piktochart provides seven free infographic templates. Each template can be customized by changing the colors, fonts, icons, and charts on each template. If you need more space on the template, you can add more fields at the bottom of the templates. If you need less space, you can remove fields from the templates.
EWC Presenter is a new tool from Easy Web Content (a website creation and hosting service). EWC Presenter makes it easy to create slideshows, banner graphics, and interactive infographics. The slideshow creator and banner graphic creator don't stand-out from other tools like them. The EWC Presenter's infographic animation option is worth noting. EWC Presenter's infographic tool allows you to animate elements within your infographic. And as was featured in a post early this month, EWC Presenter infographics support audio files.
Canva is a service that makes it easy to create beautiful slides, flyers, posters, infographics, and photo collages. Creating these graphics on Canva is a drag-and-drop process. Start by selecting a template then dragging and dropping into place background designs, pictures, clip art, and text boxes. Canva offers a huge library of clip art and photographs to use in your designs. You can also upload your own images to use in your graphics. Your completed Canva projects can be downloaded as PDF and PNG files. You can also simply link to your online graphic.
You can also use a large piece of chart paper and your own drawing skills.
The choice is yours.
You will be graded on the following requirements. Accurate information, visually interesting, flow, useful information (audience appropriateness), well edited, we will determine percentages in class.